fifteen] happy animals 



Ohio, who had this sense of kinship for everything 

 about him. " He had only to throw himself down 

 upon the lawn in front of his home, and the little 

 creatures of the air and the shy squirrels would for- 

 get their timidity and come near to him. Little 

 birds would gradually close in upon him, until they 

 stood on his hands. He had a caressing tone 

 which proved irresistible to them, and if they were 

 speeding after a bug in another direction, they 

 would turn at his call and go to him." He had a 

 pet hen which was entirely given up to this senti- 

 ment of affection. He would say, "Come here, 

 Topsy, " and the fluffy hen would leave her com- 

 panions and go to him. " Now sing for us, Topsy !" 

 he would say, and the foolish-looking creature 

 would stand, and make her unmusical laying song, 

 till he told her to stop. " Come into the house with 

 me, Topsy! and sing to my friends in there." 

 Thereupon she allowed herself to be set upon a 

 stool, where she sang her guttural song to the de- 

 light of the household. The same authority tells 

 us that she knew another lad, in California, with 

 much the same power. One day his mother saw, 

 with consternation, fourteen strange cats at his 

 heels who had never before seen him, but were 



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